Do you work with music and songs in English lessons?

Music

is something that we enjoy in the course of our lives. It is a significant aspect of it and their role in an educational system is very important in general. Using

songs

and

music

in

lessons

is one of the tools a teacher can use to teach a foreign

language

, regardless of the age of the learners, level of student´s

language

or their proficiency to study the

language

.

This

essay will focus on using

songs

and

music

in

English

lessons

, including activities, methods, descriptions, and tools.

Firstly

, D. K. Eken explains how it works in the educational process: “

Music

is considered as a strong candidate for making

language

learning classroom an optimum learning environment in which learners can increase their vocabulary, enhance their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and develop cultural knowledge.” He provides an explanation of how these to tools can change the process in educational facilities.

Furthermore

, if teachers include

music

in their lesson plans they have to take the time into consideration. There is the fact that learners need more space to work with one short piece o

music

and they should proceed with small steps.

For example

some work sheets with lyrics included short glossary for

students

.

Secondly

,

English

lessons

can incorporate

songs

, the

language

of sounds, rhythms, and feelings.

This

means that the school subject

English

could benefit from

music

and its use in

English

lessons

at primary schools. Attention is paid to

songs

, especially focusing on their importance in teaching from both theoretical and practical points of view. As you can see,

music

and

songs

have many benefits and purposes

such

as the development of all skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking), activities including grammar rules, idioms, and pronunciations. It is well known fact that for many

students

the most problematic skill is listening. Using

songs

in

English

classes is a great opportunity to develop and consolidate

students

´ habits and listening strategies. Teachers’ selection of a technique and set of techniques should be based on the objectives for different classrooms. They should prepare an effective plan for each lesson where they would like to apply the

song

and

music

. It is

also

important and necessary to integrate all the skills in the process in order to achieve successful teaching.

In addition

, when people are in a good or bad humour, they listen to

music

.

Therefore

, we can use

music

to evoke a pleasant atmosphere or as a warm-up activity. Not too many teachers do it because they do not pay attention to

song

or they do not have experience with it.

On the other hand

, we need to motivate our

students

and

this

is one option which might help. We can start the lesson with a short time warm up activity,

for example

using live concert recording and

students

have two or three minute´s space to dance. To conclude, foreign

language

teachers should be able to aply

music

and

songs

as a pedagogical tool in

English

language

lessons

. As I believe a teacher can be successful in his/her teaching practise, only in case he/she knows the

students

´ needs, habits and heir aims and requirements. Under the condition of being a

music

teacher and my personal experience, using

music

and

song

is contributing. References: Eken, D. K. (1996). Ideas for using

songs

in the

English

language

classroom.

English

Teaching Forum, 34(1), 46-47. 1)Murphey, Tim.

Music

and

song

. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.